Thief facing penalty for selling stolen goalposts for scrap

Nov 6 2008

A HAMILTON man sold goalposts stolen from a town pitch for scrap.

John Allison took a set of posts from the Fairhill Pavilion grounds in June this year and got £60 for them from a scrap metal dealer.

Four seven-a-side portable goalposts, worth thousands of pounds and belonging to Mill United FC, had gone missing from the grounds at that time.

The aluminium goalposts had been bought for the boys’ club through an Awards For All grant in January 2008, and were stored inside an 8ft-high fence which surrounded the dressing rooms.

Last week Allison, of Almada Tower, admitted a charge of resetting a set of goalposts between June 9 and June 10 at the Mill Road grounds when he appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

The 32-year-old had been on probation at the time and on bail for another matter.

The fiscal depute told the court that a worker at the site reported to the police on June 10 that goalposts had been stolen.

As part of police inquiries, officers called scrap metal dealers in Low Waters Road and they confirmed they had bought goalposts from Allison for £60 and later cut them into scrap.

When Allison was traced and interviewed, he admitted he had taken the stolen posts in a shopping trolley to the scrap yard, and claimed that he had been paid £45.

Allison’s lawyer Charles Ferguson recognised that his client was on probation at the time, but asked Sheriff Frank Pieri to deal with the matter straight away.

He pointed out that Allison was on benefits and could pay a fine.

The lawyer said the accused claimed the crime had not involved ‘a set’ of stolen goalposts. Allison, he said, maintained he had taken one goal post frame, and having carried it in a shopping trolley, it was unlikely there were two frames.

However, Sheriff Pieri said he would call for reports since Allison had been on probation, and on bail, when the offence was carried out.

The sheriff deferred sentence on Allison, who has a long criminal record, until December 4.